


Pecuniary

by cutsycat



Series: Dictionary.Com Word of the Day Drabbles [1009]
Category: NCIS
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-27
Updated: 2017-12-27
Packaged: 2019-02-22 13:59:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13168404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cutsycat/pseuds/cutsycat
Summary: McGee has money troubles and has to work over Christmas even though the team has it off.





	Pecuniary

**Author's Note:**

  * For [WaterSoter](https://archiveofourown.org/users/WaterSoter/gifts).



> Another dictionary.com word of the day drabble. This time from 02/03/2002 for the word [pecuniary](http://www.dictionary.com/wordoftheday/2002/02/03/pecuniary).
> 
> pecuniary  
> of or relating to money: pecuniary difficulties.  
> consisting of or given or exacted in money or monetary payments: pecuniary tributes.  
> (of a crime, violation, etc.) involving a money penalty or fine.
> 
> This is for Stocking Stuffer #5 requested by Water Soter for the 2017 Happy Holidays Challenge, [here](https://ncis-discuss.livejournal.com/95769.html). I hope she enjoys it.
> 
> As always comments, kudos, and constructive criticism are greatly appreciated.

# 

Pecuniary

“Yes! We have Christmas Eve and Day off for once.” Tony shouted happily, his voice ringing throughout the bullpen. 

“Not me.” McGee whimpered dejectedly.

“Eh? What’s the matter, Tim? Even Gibbs is taking the days off.” 

Tim looked around to make sure they were alone. Fortunately, Gibbs and Ziva had already left. Ziva had plans to spend Christmas with her current boyfriend and they were flying out tonight. 

Gibbs for once seemed excited about Christmas. He’d mentioned being invited to share Christmas with Maddie and had left considerably earlier than he ever did. So Tony and McGee were the only ones from the MCRT still in the bullpen. 

Tim knew Ziva would give him a hard time over this. Tony might too, but at least Tony wouldn’t use it against him. He was way too embarrassed for his boss to find out. 

“I can’t afford to take the time off.”

“Why not?”

“I didn’t just lose the money from my deep six books when the hedge fund collapsed. I also lost a significant portion of my savings.”

“You’re salaried, McGee. You’ll still get paid even if you take the days off.”

McGee shook his head. This was the really embarrassing part about his pecuniary troubles. “Technically, yes, but I overspent my vacation days on that book tour and I still owe hours from that as I had expected to afford to be able to take them as unpaid using the money from my books. I can’t afford to do that now. I made a deal with HR to have any hours I didn’t make up taken out at the end of the year as I needed the money for the days when I took them to pay for the trip. So now I have to work Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in order to be able to pay rent. Otherwise there won’t be enough money in my next paycheck.”

“That sucks.” Tony frowned. He hated to hear that his friend would be working alone. “You know what? I’ll keep you company. I don’t have any Christmas plans that I can’t change.”

“You don’t have to.”

“Think nothing of it. See you tomorrow.” Tony waved as he left. He’d already turned off his computer, so he’d shoot HR an email from home to let them know the change in plans.

McGee looked after Tony and couldn’t help thinking what a great friend Tony was. McGee knew Senior had contacted Tony about spending Christmas together and for Tony to give that up just because McGee had made a mess of his finances really meant something to McGee. He couldn’t help wondering what tomorrow, Christmas Eve, would bring though.

Tony stopped by the store on his way home. He wanted to do something good for Tim. It was Christmas.

No one should be so down on Christmas. Sure Tony had been hurt by the books and he couldn’t help feeling that Tim’s karma had come full circle, but it was Christmas. Plus, this would give him some good one on one time with Tim.

It had been a long time since he’d been able to devote time to mentoring Tim and he was looking forward to it. This wasn’t mentoring in the form of pranks around the office. No, this would be time spent polishing Tim’s investigative skills.

Tomorrow, Tony would pick out some cold cases to broaden McGee’s horizons. Tonight, though, Tony was going to go shopping for rewards for McGeek. Cold cases weren’t as easy to prove you got the right answer until the case was solved, but since Tony was just trying to teach him some different ways of looking at things via the cold cases he planned to make use of a reward system.

He hoped that it would be effective in helping Tim grow as an agent. Plus, it would be holiday themed and hopefully fun for both of them while they were stuck at the office on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. At least, this year, Gibbs wouldn’t be barking at them to solve a case and they could relax a little bit.

**Author's Note:**

> Also, I'm looking for a writing buddy. Full details are [here](https://cutsycat.livejournal.com/53610.html). It is friends locked, so you'll have to add me as a friend on lj before you can read it. 
> 
> Also, Drakonyashka has translated a couple of my works into Russian. [Tutelage](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12378780) and [Imbue](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12378840). Go support them.
> 
>  **Warning! Warning! 2017 ends in less than a week! When 2017 ends, the 2017 prompt collection will close.** You have 50 prompts you can use for 2017. Use them up before they go away. Prompts are currently open. If you'd like to prompt me, please do so [here](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/NCIS_Prompts_2017/profile). Note you have to be an ao3 member to do this. 
> 
> When 2018 starts, I will open a 2018 Prompt collection. In fact, I have already created the 2018 Prompt collection [here](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/cutsycat_NCIS_Prompts_2018/profile), but sign ups are closed until 2018, so you won't be able to sign up and prompt me on this collection, yet. The 2017 prompts continue to remain over for you to prompt me with until the end of the year.
> 
> If you are not an ao3 member, you can prompt me [here](http://cutsycat.livejournal.com/50701.html). Please follow the same rules as are listed in the above link. However, because this is a handmade prompt form(that thinks it's a poll), it is considerably more limited than what ao3 provides, so please use the ao3 form if you're an ao3 member. Please note the name option is for a name that I can say this is for so that you know it's for you. Since this is for non ao3 members it won't be true gifts, but you will be mentioned in the notes.
> 
> Feel free to leave feedback here if you think something could be improved(either in the prompt process or the story itself).


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